Year One: Less Than Simple
by QueenOfSleep
Summary: Rose and Albus have boarded the train and have been accompanied by none other than Scorpius Malfoy and a muggleborn girl named Selene. The foursome immediately makes friends, without knowing that their lives at Hogwarts will be less than simple... DISCONTINUED.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is my first ****fanfic up here on (not to say **_**the whole Internet!**_**) and I hope you all enjoy!**

**Note that the genres of the future years (I'll do Year 1-Year 7) may vary due to the characters growing and more stuff getting into the plot, which I'm still working on trying to find out… Hehe... First and formerly, the story is about friendship (with a hint at future couples… and I'm sure you'll be able to find **_**that**_** out).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters (well except for Selene, who comes from my imagination and has been adapted into this fanfic) or ****the world they live in. J.K. Rowling does. (Well at least places affiliated with **_**wizardry**_** which are mentioned, not the entire Great Britain…)**

* * *

"Mom!" Rose jumped up and down in excitement. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! We're gonna be late! We'll miss the train!"

Rose's mother Hermione sighed at her daughter, who was ever so eager to get to King's Cross. Rose Weasley, a tall eleven-year old with brilliantly red locks and hazelnut-eyes put on a frown.

"Rosie, the train won't disappear into thin air if we're not there at _seven o'clock in the morning_. It leaves eleven o'clock and not a second later."

"Yeah Rosie, your mother will make sure we leave an hour early." Her father, Ron, said with a yawn. He was sitting at the breakfast table with the _Daily Prophet_ in his hand, the other one petting their ancient cat-kneazle Crookshanks, a fat, red, longhaired being with an awfully squished nose. Although his hairs around the nose had gotten a little grey. Rose's brother Hugo was eating porridge with a slight sulk. He'd been nagging his parents of somehow getting him to start attending Hogwarts two years early, failing miserably.

Rose kept her frown and sat down at the breakfast table, ignoring the annoying sounds of their miniature owl Chippy, the daughter of the now deceased Piggy. Rose had named Chippy because of the chipmunk-like sounds the owl usually made.

Hermione sat down a bowl of porridge in front of her and sat down by the table herself with a cup of tea and some toast. "Anything interesting happening?" She asked her husband.

"No, just some gibberish about the merpeople at Hogwarts." Rose looked up.

"Merpeople at Hogwarts?" Her parents had never told her anything about _merpeople_ at _Hogwarts_. Her parents just exchanged a smile and continued their breakfast. "There's merpeople there?" Rose carried on. "You think I'd meet them?"

"Not unless you go down to the bottom of the lake." Her father muttered.

Rose continued her porridge in haste and then scrambled up to her room, rummaging her trunk for her copy of _Hogwarts, A history_. She looked up the chapter about the grounds but the only thing that would be connected to the merpeople would be lake in which the sewers ended. Eew.

About three hours and fifty-five minutes later the Weasley family joined the Potters and Rose's cousins James, Albus and Lily. James was already attending Hogwarts, becoming a third-year, and Al was beginning attending with Rose and their cousins Lucy and Molly – who where the twin-daughters of uncle Percy, Ron's and Auntie Ginny's older brother – Lily however wouldn't be starting her seven years at Hogwarts until Rose and Al were third-years together with Hugo.

Rose barely listened to the adults but merely stared at the train, feeling a bit pale beneath her unusually small freckles to belong to a Weasley. She was actually completely fixed by the train until her father spoke to her, telling her to beat a boy farther away on every test. Rose recognised the boy's father from the Prophet a week earlier, remembering his name was Draco Malfoy. She skipped to the boy again, he was pale and had very light-blonde hair. He looked anxious.

Too soon she had to leave her family to find a compartment in the train, although when she thought about it she was happy to finally be on the train. An older student helped her get her trunk in, much to her relief. She had feared she'd have to wait until Al got on board to get her trunk in.

She waved her family goodbye on the platform from the window as the train started rolling and stopped the minute the compartment door was opened by Al, who seemed to be panting from the effort of dragging a trunk a couple of metres in a hall.

"Here let me help you." Rose got to her feet and pushed the trunk from behind as Al dragged it into the compartment.

"Thanks." Al said and took off his glasses to wipe them off his sweater, they'd gone misty out on the platform.

A couple of minutes they chatted about how they thought Hogwarts would be, until they heard an "ouff" out in the hallway. Rose slid the door open and stuck out her head. The pale Malfoy boy was there, and so was his trunk and a big black owl in a cage.

"Do you want help with that one?" Rose offered him as she took a step towards him, followed by Al.

The boy glanced up and then quickly turned his gaze down. "No thanks." He muttered and made a move towards the trunk again.

"It looks like you might need it." Rose pointed out as the boy slowly dragged the trunk an inch further. They boy looked at her again and Rose realized that he must know who she and Al were. "C'mon, you can sit in our compartment." She said and walked to help him move the trunk with Al tailing along.

Together they got the trunk in the compartment and they all settled down on the seats, Rose facing the Malfoy boy by the window and Al at the other end of Rose's seat.

"I'm Rose Weasley," Rose said. "What's your name?"

"Scorpius. Malfoy." The boy looked out the window.

"I'm Albus Potter." Al said. "You can call me Al though."

For a while they sat in awkward silence before Rose decided to talk. "What house do you want to be in?" She asked Scorpius who shrugged.

"I don't know, my entire family, except my mom, has been in Slytherin so chances are I'll be placed there."

"Actually, your _entire_ family haven't been there. Sirius Black was a Gryffindor and Nymphadora Tonks was a Hufflepuff. My dad said so and in our house there's a tapestry with the Black family tree which says that Narcissa Black married a Malfoy and they got a son who got a son, him being you."

Scorpius looked surprised. "I thought that that tapestry was ruined long ago. I mean, my father said that it probably was." He looked down.

"My dad wants to keep it up. Somehow he actually managed to sort out who the missing people on the tree were, and putting their names back there. He also managed to find an ancestor of ours in there and so even my generation is there now, although not the Weasley part, the tapestry refuses to even put anyone with the Weasley name on it."

"And since we're a completely different Wizarding-family we have our own." Rose put in. "I don't know were it is though."

"We have one of the Malfoy family too. My father locked it in somewhere after I read it when I was six." Scorpius looked down. "I think he was ashamed."

"Ashamed of what?" Rose asked. "Your family name may be despised now but it wasn't always, wasn't it? I'm sure somewhere along your line there's someone who did good deeds, your grandma actually lied to Voldemort about Uncle Harry being dead. Maybe not to protect him but to find your dad."

"How did you know that?" Scorpius asked as if it was news to him.

"At some Christmas we kids interrogated the ones that were in the battle against Voldemort." Rose smiled.

"We didn't get that much out of them though, only pieces of the whole story." Al told him.

"I didn't know that." Scorpius said and seemed very cheered up by knowing his grandmother at least had committed a good deed during the war.

"Well it's true." Rose smiled at him. "Hey, if we're all placed in the same house or something like that, we might be able to get our dads to officially invite you over some holiday."

Scorpius looked down instantly. Rose cursed in her mind over her own sense of tact. Or lack of.

"I… I'd be glad to. If your fathers don't have anything against m- I mean, it." Scorpius's cheeks turned slightly pink.

Al looked at him with empathy in his eyes. "You don't have to worry about that, we – 'the New Generation' as Uncle Ron calls us – knows ways to persuade our parents they don't even know of. Plus, mom and Auntie Hermione will make them come to their senses. No one handles our fathers as our mothers. And Grandma of course." Rose suddenly remembered a certain Christmas when her dad and Uncle Harry had been helping James, Fred and Louis to prank it up, golly had they been scared when Molly had gotten enough.

Rose caught a glimpse of what she thought was hope suddenly appearing in Scorpius's eyes when he looked up and beamed at them. "That would be awesome." Since the conversation and Scorpius had taken a more positive note Rose got the three of them into talking about Quidditch when they were interrupted by a very nervous girl. Judging by her clothes she were muggleborn since she wore what Rose registered as typical muggle-clothing on her.

"Hi, who are you?" Rose said to the girl

"I-I'm Selene. C-can I get in here? There's some mean boys chasing me." The girl said.

"Sure, c'mon in." Al said and smiled. "You're muggleborn, right?"

"Yes…" Selene said with a shy glance at Scorpius before she sat down beside him. Rose noticed a twitch in Scorpius's hand before he greeted her with a smile.

"My mother is too." Rose interjected before Albus had the time to answer. "And my uncle Harry, Al's," she nodded towards Albus, "dad didn't know he was a wizard until he got the letter."

"Really? Oh, I thought you might be…" The sentence faded as the girl searched for a suiting word.

"Purebloods? Not me and Al at least. I'm Rose Weasley by the way, and this is Scorpius Malfoy."

"Hi." Scorpius murmured to her. "I'm a pureblood, but it's really not any difference between muggleborns and purebloods. Only prejudice." He said and smiled again at her. She smiled back shyly.

Rose eyed the girl. She had her auburn hair in a ponytail and her eyes were a sweet blue that reminded Rose of the ocean outside of Shell Cottage, where her Uncle Bill and aunt Fleur lived with their kids Victoire, Dominique and Louis. Her cheeks were flustered, probably from running through the train because of the "mean boys".

"I like your name, isn't it the name of a Greek goddess of the moon?" Rose said after Albus had properly introduced himself as a Potter.

"Yeah… My mum's an archaeologist and she's really big on ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. We have a cat named Nyx, goddess of the Night, and my middle name is Hecate. Mom like it and thought it fit with the theme since she's a goddess of darkness."

"I thought she was the goddess of magic?" Albus shot in.

"No, not only. Also the goddess of fear and places where three roads meet. Kinda like Artemis, goddess of hunting, the moon and the whole three roads meet thingy. Mum loves the goddesses that most people would associate with you know, evil things. The kids at my muggle school always made fun of my name." Selene looked down

"I don't know much about Greek and Roman stuff, but I do know one thing about wizarding families, and that is that we all like naming our kids stuff from mythology and even constellations," Scorpius smiled a wry smile at this, referring to his own name "so even if you were teased at your old school, most people would probably think you're at least half-blood at Hogwarts. Besides, I kinda like it that your mum named you after the goddess of Magic, at least as a middle name, it makes me wonder if she might have known that you would turn out to be a witch." Scorpius finished with a nice smile towards Selene.

"Thanks, I didn't really think of it that way before." Selene smiled shyly at him.

"Well, I'm glad to help out. It's a tradition in my family to name kids after, well, constellations and stars and stuff, so I know how it is having a weird name."

* * *

**So, that was Chapter 1, which really is a prologue so... I'll upload the second chapter now.  
Please R&R, I know I screwed up a bit when I first uploaded it, so anyone who read it before I've corrected it if smething seems weird.**

**Also, I would like advice on "Hagrid-speak" as I've only read the books in Swedish (though I'm using an English site for facts about animals and stuff). Anyone that wants to help me on that, just send me the basics in a review or something.**

**Next chapter is from both Scorpius' PoV and Roses PoV. Wow, I have no idea how long that will be...**


	2. The Song

**_1. The Song_**

The foursome chattered away as the time went by, talking about everything between earth and sky, but mostly Quidditch. Rose launched herself into talking about all kinds of stuff and cool players, and mentioned that her aunt had played for the Holyhead Harpies, _and_ that her uncle was the youngest seeker on a Hogwarts team ever, _and_ that her mother had dated a world famous seeker before getting together with her dad, _and_ that her family was friends with the world famous Keeper and newly appointed captain of the English international team Oliver Wood _and_ that her uncle, the aforementioned seeker, had been flying circles around a Hungarian Horntail, at that point Selene asked what it was which resulted in a big lecture on dragons held by Albus, before Rose launched herself back into Quidditch-speak, this time talking about rules and points, and her own skills on a broomstick. Scorpius counted said facts about Quidditch to reappear at least two times after the first mentioning of them, and at the most twelve times.

Scorpius noted the sky getting darker and darker at the same rate he became hungrier and right before his stomach started growling, an old lady with a trolley came by and offered sweets. Rose immediately hopped up and bought tons of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Botts for her and everyone else. While Albus bought Cauldron cakes and Pumpkin Juice, Scorpius ended up buying liquorice staffs and quills, as well as pumpkin pies and the two places left were suddenly overflowing with sweets. Al introduced Selene to the World of the Chocolate Frogs, as well as teaching her the right way of tasting Bertie Botts Beans. And wizarding money.

Rose however, was carefully eying her beans and sorted them out in different piles.

"What are you doing?" Scorpius asked her but she didn't answer.

"She's got a theory about them being colour-coded." Albus said without a glance at Scorpius and kept teaching Selene.

Scorpius watched with amusement how the entire pack of Bertie Botts Beans that Rose had in her knee emptied and how every single bean was sorted, by then both Albus and Selene were sitting with their own sweets and watched her.

"Done." Rose said proudly.

"Okay, but what is what?" Albus said.

"Say a flavour you want."

"Vanilla." Scorpius looked at the piles of beans. There were three different white piles, but Rose however, stretched out her hand and picked up one which she gave to Albus to taste. He hesitantly took it and eyed it before he put it in his mouth. His eyes went wide and he chewed on the bean a while until he finally spoke.

"You were right. Selene, you try."

"Okay, ehm… Toffee."

"Brave choice, if Rose doesn't give you the right one, you might end up with puke, ear wax, or honey. With honey of course being the good alternative." Al smiled at her. Rose however, ignored him and grabbed a bean from one of the yellowy brown piles which she gave to Selene. The other girl carefully tasted it like she'd been taught, and almost immediately chunked the whole been down.

"Right again."

"Okay, now you say one Scorpius." Rose demanded.

Scorpius who had been musing about Rose's ability to discern one bean from the other was brought to reality with her voice. "Ehm.. Lime." Rose gave him a look when he said it.

"Lime? Really?"

"Well uh… There's many green piles." And he was right. As far as he had experienced, the green beans were either booger, grass, lime, green apple, pear, leaves, lettuce or rotten garbage. And indeed was there eight green piles, ranging from yellowy to sickly to light to a rich green. Praying desperately he wouldn't get rotten garbage, Scorpius took the bean from Rose and tasted. It was sour. It was lime.

"You're incredible." He stated when he'd swallowed the bean.

"Thanks." She answered him nonchalantly, but her hair magically fell down and hid her face, giving him the impression that she wasn't as indifferent to the compliment as she sounded.

"How do you know which one it is?" Scorpius asked when Al and Selene continued with the chocolate.

"Easy-peasy." Rose shrugged. "It's all about the colour and small differences. For example, Al picked vanilla which is a creamier white bean but with tiny black spots, like vanilla-flavoured ice-cream. Selene picked toffee, which is one of the harder beans to see the difference on. It's yellowy brown but with a hint of brass-colour in it. And you asked for lime, and that ones pretty easy; you just have to pick up a darker green and look at the edges. If it's yellowish there it's lime, if not, it's leaves." She explained.

"So, in other words, they resemble whatever it is they taste like?" He thought for a moment. "So… does strawberry have spots like the seeds on a strawberry?"

"Exactly." She answered and grabbed a red, a brown and a black bean and ate them at the same time.

"What was that?"

"Strawberry, chocolate and liquorice."

"Does it really taste good?" Scorpius was a bit sceptical.

"Yes. At least I think so."

"So… What else do you think tastes good?" He asked and she looked at him before she picked up four different beans and held them out for him. He hesitantly took them and after yet another look from her ate all of them at the same time.

"Tastes like a sandwich." he commented.

"Of course it does, bread, butter, ham and lettuce. What else would it taste like?" she replied and Scorpius shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I wasn't expecting a sandwich made out of _beans_."

Rose laughed before she got a thoughtful look on her face. "You know… They really should start making these with different combinations."

"That's a great idea! Why don't you write them?"

"What would I write? 'Hello, I'm Rose Weasley, I've decoded your beans and I'm never wrong when I pick one to eat. I think you should make combinations of your beans to create new flavours like sandwich or something gross like puke, pepper, booger, ear wax and blood.' Good enough?"

"Well… You could write that." At that came a snort from Rose who stood up and opened her trunk.

"It's getting late, you should get into your robes now. If you guys would wait outside while Selene changes we'll wait outside when you change." She said abruptly and started shoving Scorpius and Al outside. When they were waiting Scorpius turned to Al.

"What did she mean by 'if'?"

"Probably that if we didn't go out she wouldn't get out when we dress, and that she wouldn't even bother to look away." Al said nonchalantly.

"She would do that?"

"Yes." Suddenly, Scorpius wasn't sure he _wanted_ to make friends with the girl.

Pockets filled with the rest of the candy, Rose and the others hopped off the train right when it stopped after waiting in the hall and all of them peered out in the dark to see whoever would take them to the castle.

"Firs'-years over 'ere now!" A voice called to the right of them, Rose turned to see who it was even if she already knew it by the voice.

"Hagrid!" Al called eagerly and rushed to him, followed by Rose and the others.

"Oh, hello there lil' Al, ye got Rose with ye?" Hagrid asked and then looked up (or down) to see her. "Course ye have. Hi there Rosie, exciting to be at Hogwarts? Firs'-years over here!" He called out the last and a group of kids came trotting to them. "Is that all there is? Firs'-years?" One or two more joined them. "Everyone here? Okay, let's go then! Follow me!"

As Hagrid started walking down a somewhat muddy path Rose tugged at Scorpius's sleeve to make him hurry alongside her, once they came down to a myriad of small boats, Hagrid informed them that there should be four students in each. Rose was the first one in her boat and was joined by the others quickly. So many were preoccupied with getting into the boats that none of them actually _saw_ the big castle on the top of a high cliff on the other side of the lake. Then someone called out "There it is!" and everyone were so preoccupied with staring at it that no one made a sound.

The lake they travelled over lay still and mirrored the sky above except for a bunch of ripples somewhat to the left of the boats which Rose noticed and wondered exactly how far down the merpeople lived.

"That must be the Giant Squid! My dad fell in here when he was eleven!" Rose heard a boy exclaim when a giant tentacle rose up from the ripples and whipped in the cool air and others answered with "woah!" Rose herself was feeling a bit faint at the sight. It must be _huge_.

The boats drifted under an underwater-cave in the cliff, and beneath what Rose was certain was the foundation of the Hogwarts Castle until they reached an underground harbour with docks where the boats tied themselves up, and the students all stepped out of them. Hagrid went up a path in the cliff which eventually ended on a grassy patch in the shadow of the castle, kept walking and stopped in front of a great door just a few steps up.

"So, ye're all 'ere?" In unison, all of the students nodded. Hagrid knocked three times on the door, which opened just after he'd let his hand down.

The woman standing there was a remarkably thin human in darkblue, starry robes, with eyes that seemed to wander to the stars outside.

"Professor Sinistra, 'ere's your students." Hagrid said with a quick nod at her before he strolled on.

The professor looked at the students before she waved at them to come and spun around into the hallway and led them past a pair of huge doors from where eager chatter and laughs came. The professor's starry robes turned around a corner and the first years hurried after and into a room where the professor was standing, holding the door open. Closing it when everyone was in the room.

"Now, I am professor Sinistra, deputy headmistress and astronomy teacher. You are first years who will shortly be sorted into your respective houses, chosen after great consideration by our oldest member of the staff. In fact, he's been around since the school was built." At the last sentence Rose briefly wondered if "he" was a ghost. "The houses you'll be sorted into are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin and further will be explained before your sorting. Now you wait here and I'll announce your entrance to the Headmistress. I suggest you look over yourself before entering the Great Hall." And with those words she left through another door.

Rose, who was very well-aware of her own bushy locks, drew her fingers through them in hopes of maybe straightening them out a bit, if not flattening it so it wouldn't be too… poofy. From the corner of her eye she saw Al straightening his glasses and Selene pulling at her skirt and pull-over. Scorpius didn't move a fin. Of course he already looked _perfect_. Rose wondered if he ever wasn't perfectly in order.

The professor came back and after letting them line up, led them out into the Great Hall.

The ceiling above was as clear as the sky outside, and really looked like the sky. Rose's mother had already informed her that it was enchanted, but seeing it made it quite overwhelming to well, see.

The students were sitting at four different tables, each of the tables had banners over them with the emblems and colours of the houses, Gryffindor and most of Rose's cousins was at the far left, though the oldest one, Victoire, and her sister Dominique were seated at Ravenclaws table. Both with perfectly straight Veela-hair. Their brother was sitting alongside James and Fred, uncle Harry's and uncle George's respective sons, as Veela-haired as them.

A stool with a hat was placed in front of the first years and since everyone else stared at it, Rose stared at it too. Suddenly, a rift in the hat opened.

_You may see me as ugly_

_Ancient even ruddy_

_You may believe I'm worthless_

_So prove that you're not thoughtless_

_Do not judge me for my outside_

_For I can see your inside_

_To view me as a mere old hat_

_Is fair and just, I'll give you that_

_But cast aside your prejudice_

_So that I may throw the dice_

_Will it land on Red and Gold?_

_Gryffindors are always bold_

_Will it land upon the Lion?_

_Gryffindor, strong and hard as diamond_

_Will it land on Black and Yellow?_

_Hufflepuffs are loyal to their fellows_

_Will it land upon the Badger?_

_Hufflepuff, the one to trust when faced with danger_

_Will it land on Bronze and Blue?_

_Ravenclaws are wisest of the select few_

_Will it land upon the Raven?_

_Ravenclaw, where knowledge's always craven_

_Will it land on Green and Silver?_

_Slytherins won't hesitate to do what benefits them most_

_Will it land upon the snake?_

_Slytherin, cunning choices always makes_

_With all this said_

_Still don't judge_

_For even Slytherins are brave and wise_

_Gryffindors are loyal too, and always know just what to do_

_Hufflepuffs might me the wisest of us all, knowing values we ignore_

_Ravenclaws know bravery, loyalty and the way to get it all_

_As long as the sorting has been in place_

_I have been in its charge_

_I've seen millions of minds and all their fates_

_I've seen my wrongs and all my rights_

_As I've said do not judge on outsides_

_But this applies to the mind as well_

_For where others see smarts and cunning_

_I see boldness and hard-working._

The student's cheered as the hat ended its song and Rose felt herself relax. Sorting didn't seem too hard. Then the last two lines in the song hit her. She was always considered brave and witty, what if the hat saw the hardworking or the cunning? Being in Slytherin wouldn't even be an option for her as she viewed it. Then she remembered Scorpius, and looked at him. He was almost certain where he would be, just because of his family, but Rose thought to herself that maybe the Hat would make a good choice in his sorting.

* * *

**The End of the second chapter. R&R, and as I said before (I just can't stop nagging...) I want advice on "Hagrid-speak".**

**What do you think of the theory on the Beans? I came up with it sometime, don't know when xD I kinda like it myself (well duh, _I came up with it_).**

**Also, the song was a pain the butt, especially trying to come up with decent rhymes (which I didn't) without access to Internet... -.-' And I switched places on the Raveclaw colours because I couldn't come up with something good rhyming with "bronze".**

**So next, is the Sorting! *DundundunDUN*...*a.k.a. Beethovens 5th...*  
Will i break the foursome up? Or will they impossibly enough be sorted into the same house? I already know that lol, so it will be updated as soon as possible, I might do some writing on the next chapter though, to get the end right.  
I initially intended to have the Song and Sorting in the same chapter, but that would make it too long. Yay, I figured out a name for the next chapter! Guess ;)**


	3. The Sorting

_**2. The Sorting**_

Professor Sinistra walked up and unrolled a parchment before talking. "Allen, Theodore!" She called and a boy to the left of Rose walked up to the stool and put the hat on.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat called after a moment of thinking.

"Anderson, Jacob!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Another short blond boy went over to the table over which black and yellow banners hung.

"Atherton, Selene!" Out of pure instinct Rose grabbed the closest hand available. She always did that when something exciting and scary was about to happen. The hand belonged to Scorpius.

Selene went on unsteady legs up to the stool and let the hat slip over her head and after a few seconds thinking, the rift in the hat opened. "RAVENCLAW!" Rose saw a smile appear on Selene's lips and beamed at her in encouragement. Even if she loosened her grip of Scorpius's hand, she didn't let go of it, and he stood there beside her without moving it an inch.

Chastity Baddock was named a Slytherin, while Juliet Badger was a Hufflepuff. Drew Barbary, Linus Bletchley and Louise Blishwick were all sorted into Slytherin and followed Chastity.

Richard Cadwallader joined Juliet Badger at the Hufflepuff table, Michael Connelly became the first Gryffindor before Miranda Corner and Caspian Creevey were made Ravenclaws. Nicole Davies followed Miranda and Caspian to the table beneath the blue banners and Kevin Finnigan went to the Gryffindors.

Marcus Goldstein, a black-haired and tall boy was sorted into Ravenclaw, and Rebecca Goyle was made a Slytherin as Scorpius's hand tensed. Melanie Harper and Meaghan Lee, two girls who had seemed to have befriended each other on the train went separate ways as Melanie was sorted into Slytherin and Meaghan into Gryffindor. Christina Macmillan was sorted a Hufflepuff when the tension in Scorpius hand was almost painful, he was squeezing Rose's hand so hard out of worry.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" Professor Sinistra called and Rose squeezed Scorpius's hand before he sat down on the stool. Rose heard her cousins at the Gryffindor table whistle when the hat slid over Scorpius's eyes.

Almost an entire minute went by as the hat seemed to be debating with itself. Rose was getting nervous when at last the rift opened.

"RAVENCLAW!" It called, and Rose almost jumped up and down in excitement. She followed his way to the table where Selene smiled at him and caught his eye when he looked up and smiled in relief at her. Rose smiled and winked at him.

Sean McCormack joined the girl before Scorpius as a Hufflepuff, and Cassandra Moon was the first Gryffindor girl to be sorted. Michael Nott was sorted a Slytherin before it came to P.

"Potter, Albus!" Sinistra called and Rose gave Al a small nudge as he walked up to the stool, sat down and put on the hat.

This time it didn't take too long for the hat to decide, but enough to make Rose almost bite her nails, a habit she had had since she was smaller and still was plagued by.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat called out and Rose beamed at Al when he lift the hat off of his head and joined Scorpius and Selene.

Alan Powell went to the Gryffindor table and so did Jonathan Richards, before a William Rosier was sent to Ravenclaw as well as Matthew Simmons. Lily-Anne Smith and Catrina Summerby were both sorted into Hufflepuff, but their friends Felicia Tremlett and Jennifer Thomas were made a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor.

Suzanne Walters and Anthony Wayne were made Hufflepuffs before the first Weasley was sorted.

"Weasley, Lucy!" Rose saw her red-haired cousin walk up to the stool and, unsurprisingly enough didn't last very long up there.

"GRYFFINDOR!" All the Weasley relatives broke out into loud cheers while other students just clapped their hands, until they all turned to watch Molly step up and try on the hat.

In an amount of time as short as it had been with Lucy, the rift opened. "GRYFFINDOR!" Molly ran to her twin and cousins until finally, it was Rose's time.

"Weasley, Rose!" The professor called, and with one last glance at the others at the Ravenclaw table, Rose went up to the stool to face her doom.

"Ahahaha!" A voice in her ear chuckled. "_Yet_ another Weasley? Well, you seem different than the other girls. Hmm… Lets see… Lots of bravery and loyalty… But you're also little miss Devious, eh?"

"What?" Rose thought.

"Yes, you like mischief, but not as much as your male relatives. And you wouldn't be arguing much about whether or not you would choose your own personal gain over rules. But your mind is outstanding! Very clever, very witty… And you search knowledge more than fame… I think I've made up my mind…"

"RAVENCLAW!" Rose felt like she had swallowed an entire cauldron of liquid luck when she joined her friends at the table, laughing and smiling. After waiting for so long to be sorted, the rest went by fast with only two girls left, both of the girls seemed to dislike the other, something that didn't surprise Rose when Patricia Wood was sorted into Gryffindor and Isabella Zabini into Slytherin.

The woman in the Headmistress' chair stood up and raised her hand for silence, which fell instantly.

"For those who don't know, I am Professor Mafalda Hopkirk, previous professor in Muggle Studies, and Headmistress of Hogwarts. I give all of the new students a warm welcome, and a warm welcome back to our older students.

Try-outs for the Quidditch teams are yet to be scheduled, and your head of house will inform you of the date as soon as possible. Also I would like to note that first-years may try out for their teams if they have flown before, in that case contact Madam Hooch," she paused and gestured towards a witch at the far left of the table who nodded. "and she will test your flying skills. If you are approved of you may visit the try-outs to apply for your wanted position. If you get it, you may send for your own broomstick.

As usual, the castle will host four exchange students from other schools, and any of our sixth-years who wants to visit another school, please contact your head of house to see over the options. That is all for now, lets not keep the food waiting." Professor Hopkirk sat down and the student's applauded her and when Rose turned her gaze to the empty plates and goblets on the table she was pleasantly surprised by dozens of dishes that had appeared on the plates.

Rose grabbed the roasted chicken closest to her and mashed potatoes and the pumpkin juice and served herself.

"Finally we got some guy with Weasley genes in Ravenclaw." Victoire was speaking to Dominique, who were both sitting closest to the First-Years "I was beginning to think the entire population of them was getting dumb."

"The entire population of what?" Rose said, intrigued by the remark. Victoire didn't talk like this around grown-ups. At least not since aunt Fleur had become as angry as grandma Molly with her when she'd commented on something Rose hadn't understood back then, and still didn't understand.

"Weasley males. At least in our generation. No one but Al seems to have a brain. And he's not even a Weasley to the name." Dominique explained. Rose had to agree there, not many of the boys in the entire family were smart. Of course, they had occasionally bright ideas, but none of them would ever qualify as a _Ravenclaw_. Except for Al.

While they were eating, everybody chatted about their families and also Quidditch. Rose learned that Miranda and Nicole were both halfblooded, and that Felicia was muggleborn and that all three of them had shared a compartment. Rose, Al and Scorpius however where all being interviewed by the boys, except for the Rosier boy, who Rose later found out had an uncle who had been a Death Eater and was now in Azkaban.

"So, how's your dad, I mean, he's _the_ Harry Potter, right?" Marcus Goldstein asked Al curiously.

Al just shrugged. "Dad's fine I guess. I mean, he's a great dad and all, but he's not all snotty and stuff because he's famous. He got used to that when he first started Hogwarts I guess."

"When he _started _Hogwarts?" came from Caspian.

"Well yeah, silly! Back then he was named as _the Boy Who Lived_, because he survived an attack by Voldemort when he was just a kid! No one else did that! And he survived a lot more too!" Marcus exclaimed at the question, and actually seemed upset that someone could be so _stupid_ to ask such a _silly_ question.

"Hey," said Marcus and turned to Rose, "your parents are friends with him right? And they were here at the same time, right?"

"Yes." Rose said, trying to avoid more questions by turning to Selene, who so far only had listened.

"Didn't he marry your aunt?" The boy persisted. "What do you think of that? What does your dad think of that?"

Rose stifled a snort. Who was he, Rita Skeeter? That cow had gone under years ago, as her father had put it. "I don't mind, Auntie Ginny is nice and from what I've heard, she was in love with him for years before they got together. And dad apparently gave Uncle Harry _permission_." Rose remembered the Easter when that had come up, dad had joked about it and then Auntie Ginny had mumbled "bat-boogey hex" which had made him visibly shrink.

"Permission? Really? Hey, didn't your mom date that famous artist Dean Thomas when she was at Hogwarts?" Marcus switched back to Al and Rose decided she didn't like him. At all. Definitely not.

The plates where all soon emptied and Rose was starting to feel full. Just then appeared the dessert, and Rose forgot all thoughts of being full.

Selene was amazed by the castle so far, and all she had seen was the Great Hall. The candles that floated high above in the air, the _ceiling_, the food that just appeared on the golden plates, but most of all she was amazed by how normal it all seemed to her.

Everyone was acting as though it was nothing new to them, except for maybe the other muggleborn students, which in turn made her act like nothing was unusual. Selene was eating a cake that tasted delicious, and she was enjoying the mere sight of the Great Hall. Those three other girls were talking about Quidditch and _Witch Weekly_, which seemed to be some sort of magazine. Rose was being questioned again by the boy Marcus, both Scorpius and the Rosier boy (whom she had found out was the nephew of a Death Eater, whatever that was, she would have to ask Rose) were eating quietly, rarely talking with the other boys who all seemed fixed by Rose and Albus.

In fact, she and a boy whom she remembered being called Matthew sitting next to Rose were the only ones _not_ talking.

"Hi." Selene said to him and he looked down on her, breaking his studying of the ceiling.

"Oh eh, hi." He answered and seemed a bit shocked that she had talked to him. "Uh, I'm Matthew, you can call me Matt."

"I'm Selene, I don't have a nickname." She smiled at him and he blushed. "Are you also muggleborn?"

"Yes. My mom and I live in a flat in London. I never expected there'd be such a thing as magic, and neither did mom."

"Neither did my family. I have and older sister who got real jealous of me when she found out that I could do magic and she didn't. My parents where happy though."

Matt nodded. "So… do you like music?"

"Yes, you? What kind?"

"Eh, metal you know, _Evanescence_, they're real good even if they're an old band you know. You've heard of them?"

"My sister listens to them, but I think it's a little too dark for me like… I prefer HIM."

"Oh right, that Finnish band, I think mom has a CD of them. It's a shame that they retired now, right? They've been playing for almost _twenty _years! Well, Ville Valo has at least."

Selene nodded. "My favourite is _When Love And Death Embrace_."

"Mine's _Kiss of Dawn_. It's a shame MP3's and I Pod's don't work around here."

"Mhm, I'm gonna miss the music."

"Hey Selene! I've got an idea!" Rose said, she had obviously been listening to their conversation. "My mom is muggleborn and since she works at the Ministry, we've got permission to use a TV, which is enchanted so it will work around magic, maybe you could do that with those MP-thingies!"

"Really? But how about batteries?"

Rose looked at her for a moment. "What's that?"

Selene wasn't sure how to explain _batteries_ to someone who had a TV, but didn't know what batteries were. Luckily, Matt decided to answer instead.

"It's a source of power, which you can load and use until it runs out of energy, some you can re-load using a device witch transfers the energy from the plugs that are part of an electric network. Kind of."

"Oh electricity! I think my granddad has talked about stuff like that. Maybe you could make a never-ending battery? Or at least 'load' it so it will hold very long?"

"Maybe. I don't know all the limitations of magic. Do you know any?"

"Well, you can't raise the dead, so far you can't cure lycanthropy, werewolves you know, and you can't conjure food out of nowhere."

"Then were does this come from?" Selene asked and made a gesture towards the table.

"Ever heard of House-elves? Well, they're beings that have been serving wizards for centuries, but not until my mom started working at the Ministry have they been rewarded with payment and days off and such, there's about hundreds of them that take care of Hogwarts like cooking, washing and cleaning. According to my dad the kitchen is right underneath us, as well as tables that have been set up exactly like ours, and when dinner or any food at all is served they send it up from those tables."

Selene was stunned.

"How does these House-elves look?" Matt inquired.

"Well, you have probably been to Gringotts both of you so, imagine a goblin, only they look friendlier and have bigger ears and eyes and they're also thinner and a bit taller I think. I've never really seen one beside the other so it's hard to know." Rose explained and shrugged at the last part. "Maybe we can sneak down to the kitchens and you'll see exactly how they look. Dad says they give away food to students who come down there."

"But how does one get there?"

This time Rose had to think when Selene asked her question. She turned to Al and asked him something, and he nodded.

"Al says that his brother probably knows. He's a Gryffindor third year, and he has served more detention than anyone we know. Well, except for Uncle George and Teddy, Uncle Harry's godson."

_Finally the feast is over._ Al thought when the plates emptied. That Goldstein boy had been asking him questions non-stop together with Caspian Creevey, though the latter had been a bit nicer and asked more reasonable questions.

_How did your dad survive Voldemorts Killing Curse?_ What kind of question was that? No one knew the answer to that one, not the most proficient witches and wizards that now lived, how would he himself know that?

The Headmistress stood up and raised her wand for silence again. It fell slowly, and the last person talking was James. Al could easily separate his voice from others after years of training.

"Good." Professor Hopkins said finally. "Now that everyone has eaten, I would like to point out a few things for our new students, as well as remind our older students of the same. _Skiving Snackboxes_ from _Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes_ are forbidden, if you are caught using the product or any that comes with it to skip classes, you will have detention. The Forbidden Forest is as the name states; _forbidden_. Also Weasley-products forbidden, are their Portable Swamp, Smart-Answer Quills, Wildfire Whiz-bangs, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and Trick Wands, as well as any other product that can be used to create harm or help with cheating." Al smiled a bit at her list. If he knew James and his friends, half of those things along with dozens of others would somehow find their way into the castle anyway.

"Now, everybody go to your common rooms, and I suggest you sleep. School starts tomorrow and you all better be here at breakfast or else you won't get your schedules. Now, off you go."

A Ravenclaw Prefect stood up at these words and called for the First years to follow him.

He led them to what Albus thought was the western side of the tower, while at the same time informing the first years about things that they had to know.

"Our common room and dormitories are in one of Hogwarts' tallest towers, and to get inside, you must answer a riddle. If you say the wrong answer, you'll have to wait until someone comes and answers correctly." The prefect said while walking up a flight of stairs when it suddenly started moving and changed their direction. "Also, as you probably noticed, the stairs move so you must always be prepared to find another way to your classes. I recommend that you learn different routes."

Sooner or later they made it to the entrance for their common room via a spiral staircase. The door held no keyhole and no doorknob, only a bronze knocker, shaped like an eagle.

"What is distinct for a truly wise wizard or a witch?" Said the knocker, much to Al's surprise. And he was even more surprised that he was surprised at that.

"A person knowing that he or she doesn't know everything, and that no one can know it all."

"Correct." The door opened and the knocker went perfectly still. The prefect walked into the middle of the common room, followed by the First years who all tried to stare at everything at the same time.

The room was circular and airy, with a midnight blue carpet and a domed ceiling with painted stars. Blue silk curtains were hanging at the arched windows and tables, chairs and bookcases where placed throughout the room. By the back there was a door and close to it was a white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Through that door are your dormitories, boys up to the left and girls to the right up the stairs. You should all go to sleep now as the headmistress suggested, as you will wake up in time for breakfast due to a secret charm on all of your pillows, invented by Ravenclaw just for her students." The prefect said and stepped out of the way when all of the First years started towards the door.

By a spiralling stair to the right Rose and Selene said goodbye and went up to their own dormitories, while Albus and Scorpius went up the stairs to the left and found their way to a door with a plaque stating "First Years" and entered.

Everyone got into their pyjamas and to tired to talk they all went to sleep in their beds.

* * *

**Lol, secret charm on their pillows... And I just couldn't resist putting two muggle bands in it... I had too :D Plus, I was sleepy because it was late when I wrote their conversation... And I hate Goldstein... and for some reason I got the idea that his name is Michael when I was writing it, and then I remembered it was Marcus so I had to change it all. And I gave Scorpius a friend :) So now there's two kids affiliated (lol) with Death Eaters.**

**So, that's the sorting and the entire evening from there on, and everybody is a Ravenclaw! Woohoo. Seriously, it would be boring to relive seven years as Gryffindors who aren't smart enough to figure out stuff who hasn't been figured out before... Okay I just confused myself there... Next chapter will come up as soon as I write it... Hehe**

**R&R please!**

**And thank you Avanell for your Review!**


	4. Expelliarmus

_**3. Expelliarmus**_

An irritating buzzing sound started right beneath Rose's head. Ignoring the sound, she turned to the other side and tried to get back to sleep. The buzzing intensified. She rolled over on her back to escape it. Finally, it started to calm down. That's what she thought. With a sudden movement, the pillow somehow thrust her forwards so that she found herself a bare inch from falling off the bed.

"S-Selene…" she said in a weak voice.

"Yes?"

"Remind me to get up before this happens again." The only answer she got was laughter.

Hurriedly Rose jumped off the bed in case it would have any more surprises, and reached for her robes.

At the bottom of the staircase that led to their dormitories they found Al and Scorpius waiting, as well as Matthew, the boy Selene had talked to at the feast, just coming from the boy's dormitory.

"Slept well?" Al asked her Rose, knowing full well that she was impossibly hard to wake up.

"The pillow almost threw her out of her bed." Selene answered instead of Rose, something that caused both Al and Scorpius to snort with laughter.

"Oh, shut it." Rose muttered and was already halfway through the common room before they caught up with her.

At breakfast their head of house, who was none other than professor Sinistra, who had called them up upon sorting the evening before, handed out their schedules around the same time the mail arrived.

Chippy, Rose's families miniature owl came crashing down with a letter, but almost immediately got up again and flew up on Rose's shoulder when she reached out for it.

The letter was short and written by her mom, who was asking which house she had been sorted into and if she'd met any friends.

"Al do you have a quill?"

"Sure." He reached into his pocket and dug out a quill as well as ink and parchment. Rose grabbed it all and started writing her reply.

_Dear mom,_

_Both me and Al got sorted into Ravenclaw! And I met a friend at the train, Selene, a muggleborn girl who basically came crashing into our compartment when running from some guys who were chasing her._

_I know dad will probably crash through the ceiling at this, but me and Al (and Selene) shared our compartment with Scorpius Malfoy, who's actually really nice. At first he was shy, and seemed nervous but we talked a bit and he seemed to lighten up. And guess what? Both Selene and Scorpius were sorted into Ravenclaw as well! I'm having breakfast with them just now and then we'll be off to Potions with the Hufflepuffs._

_In case any of you are wondering, both Molly and Lucy were sorted into Gryffindor._

_You know about the new Quidditch-team rules here, right? Well, I'm going to ask madam Hooch (who's still working here) if she can inspect my flying so that I can try out for the team, but first I'm going to talk to Dominique._

_Rose_

"You're gonna try out for the team? How much do you fly?" Scorpius asked her, he'd been reading over her shoulder the whole time. Rose folded the parchment and dropped some wax from a candle on it as a provisory seal.

"Yes, my cousin Dominique is the captain so I'm going to talk to her first though, she knows I can fly. And for that matter, I've been playing Quidditch ever since I was a kid, my auntie Ginny and my uncles have been teaching us all to fly. We even have our own mini-cup because we're so many. Do you play?"

"Yes, or rather, I fly. My family isn't big enough to have our own Quidditch-cup, but dad used to enchant snitch-shaped rocks and such for me to chase. I'm a seeker, you?"

"Chaser. My cousin Lily always play seeker, she's as good as Uncle Harry at it, so everyone always wants her on their team."

After a long conversation about Quidditch and try-outs Rose and the others went down to the dungeons to find their classroom. At the door to the classroom they continued talking until it opened and they walked into the classroom and took their seats, Rose next to Selene at the front row, and Al next to Scorpius at the row behind them.

"Good morning class." Came a voice from the left, and a fat, bald man with a huge moustache separated himself from the shadows.

The class mumbled a "good morning" back to him and watched as he took his place at the catheter on which a cauldron with a misty surface stood.

"I am Professor Horace Slughorn, though you can just call me 'sir'," he smiled at them all. "I will be tutoring you in your Potions class until your O.W.L's, and also those who makes it to the N.E.W.T's. If all goes well, after all, I've lived a full life with all the excitement one can ask for. Two wizarding wars, Merlin's beard." He rambled on a bit more until he took up the list of the students and went to see if everyone was there.

By the time he came to "Malfoy, Scorpius" he looked up and right behind Rose.

"Ah, mr. Malfoy, I see that you're breaking a family tradition, well that's always good. Although I'd rather have you in my own House, Slytherin, it makes communication much easier. Have you heard of the Slug Club? It's founded by me, of course, and you may expect an invitation soon. I've always liked to gather promising young witches and wizards…" he trailed off and returned to the list again. That was, until he came to "Potter, Albus".

"Mr. Potter! You look like a reflection of your father! And very much alike your grandfather too. But you've got Lily's eyes. Lily was always a favourite of mine, one of the most extraordinary witches I had ever seen… As well as Ms. Granger of course, I don't know who's the brightest… An invitation to you too will come, of course."

The professor returned to the list and this time he didn't stop until he came to Rose.

"Ms. Weasley! I see you were made a Ravenclaw! Merlin knows your mother could have been one, I suppose it might run in the family. Intelligence that is. Also your father had a good head too, not a brilliant one, though he's a master at chess I've heard. I almost regret I didn't invite him to the Slug Club, but oh well, what's done is done…"

The rest of the lesson was spent on brewing a simple potion, a hiccup solution, followed by answering some questions, just to see how much they had read, as Slughorn expressed it. Selene surprised all of them by correctly answer every one of the questions, as well as brewing a solution as good as it possibly could be when brewed by a beginner. By the end of the lesson she had earned an invitation to the Slug Club too. When Slughorn asked her how she had known all the answers she just blushed and said she'd been reading all of her books since she'd gotten them.

Next was Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors. Rose moaned to herself when she realized the stream of words that would be coming from her twin-cousins.

Scorpius got into the classroom and sat down beside Rose, he looked around and found their teacher just closing the door. She was a tall witch with black, simple robes and her hair cut short and held back from the face by a ribbon tied around it in a ponytail. She walked up to the catheter and silence instantly fell.

"Good morning class, I am professor Concordia Alexius and I will be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm also hosting, along with professor Neville Longbottom, the after-school DA. Also known as Dumbledore's Army, but due to some resistance within the ministry", she smiled a wry smile, as if to point out the sheer stupidity of thinking a name was unfit, "it has been renamed to the Defence Association. If anyone wonders, it's a sort of club for defensive training and it is also used to train practically by older students for their O.W.L's and N.E.W.T's, it was founded by Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley during their fifth year, when the Ministry and _The Daily Prophet_ held their own campaign to spread doubt about mr. Potter. However, you must be a second year to join the club, but you may attend it on two separate occasions in your first year if you want to. Now, back to business."

She then proceeded by calling each student before turning to the blackboard.

"The _Expelliarmus_-charm is a spell primarily used in defence, but also as an offence." She told them while writing up the incantation and page in their textbook on the board, waving her wand and turned around. "Does anyone know it's other name and what happens when you use it?"

Rose's hand immediately flew into the air, as well as a few others.

"Miss Weasley?"

"The spell disarms the person whom it's cast upon. That's also why it's called the Disarming Charm." Rose said rapidly and the professor nodded.

"Do you know any famous times it has been used?"

"Yes, it was used by Harry Potter at the same time that Voldemort cast the Killing Curse and the two collided and Voldemorts curse was thrown back at him, causing him to die. It was also used by Harry Potter against Voldemort three years earlier at his uprising, Voldemort's that is, against the Killing Curse again, and caused a phenomenon known as _Priori Incantatem_."

The professor seemed impressed. "Do you know what happened during the _Priori Incantatem_?"

"Yes, the well, shadows is the best way to explain it, of the people that Voldemort had killed earlier manifested around them in a golden dome, also Harry's and Voldemorts wands were connected."

"Correct. Of course there's more to it but it is far too complicated for such young witches and wizards, and would surely take this whole class to explain further. Open your books, _Practical Defence_, that is, on page 38 and read about the Disarming Charm."

Scorpius took out his book from underneath his theory book and opened it and started to read.

_The Disarming Charm is a spell known for its simplicity, and is a fundamental spell used in defensive magic, along with the Shield Charm (page 44) and the Stunning Spell (page 131). The charm gained fame after being used by the famous wizard Harry Potter against the Dark Lord Voldemort, resulting in the dark wizard's death when his own Killing Curse came back at him._

_It has then been proven that the charm also was the first one used by Dumbledore's Army (a.k.a. the D.A. or Defence Association) founded and lead by Harry Potter. Even if it is mostly scoffed upon by older wizards it has gained much popularity and is now one of the first spells ever taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as other magical schools._

_When casting the spell one should have his/her wand pointed in the direction of their target, if enough force is put into it one may cause the person it is pointed at to fly backwards as well as disarming the person. Surprise is a main element to make this spell work, since the fact that if not enough force is put into it, and the person it's used upon is ready, that person may be able to still hold his/her wand even after the attempt of disarming._

_Failure at pronouncing the incantation correctly may result in causing the subject it's used upon to be set on fire (or part of it), or even disarming oneself if you're unlucky._

_The incantation is: _Expelliarmus.

Scorpius looked up from his book and noticed the new instructions on the blackboard, they were to split up in pairs as they sat and try to disarm one another.

He waited for the others to finish until professor Concordia stood up and told them to go over by the wall. Most of them were confused as they hadn't seen the new instructions, but when the professor got all the desks and chairs to move to the other side and the floor was covered with pillows everyone got excited.

"Pair up with the person you were sitting with, and stand in two rows facing each other." As the students followed her orders she put even more pillows against the wall and the furniture on the other side of the room. "Remember, the incantation is _Expelliarmus_, and try to put some force in it, otherwise it won't work."

Before Scorpius had raised his wand towards Rose, he was knocked back and felt his wand slip out of his grip but he caught it before it could fully escape. Rose was smiling at him.

_Oh she'll have to do better than that!_ He thought furiously and jumped to his feet.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Rose was sent flying a few paces backwards, and her wand flew out of her grip.

"Very good mr. Malfoy, you made a quick comeback before she could use it again. That's a vital action in duelling, always strike first or strike back as fast as possible." Professor Concordia left the two of them and went to correct Molly Weasley who was just setting a pillow on fire.

Scorpius smirked when Rose got back to her feet and took up her wand. He tightened his grip around his wand but was soon flying backwards without it. He hit the pillow-covered wall and sank back down to the wall. Gritting his teeth he got back and picked up his wand. Rose was smiling again.

"_Expelliarmus!_" This time Rose hurled backwards and hit the wall just beneath the ceiling and fell down just as Scorpius managed to catch her wand that had been flying in his direction.

"Outstanding mr. Malfoy." Came from the professor who was just further instructing Selene who seemed a bit nervous disarming Albus.

Scorpius handed the wand back to Rose and got prepared to be thrown back again. Just as he expected, Rose almost shouted out the incantation and Scorpius was suddenly sent flying just as high as Rose had, and fell down on the pillows in a gush of feathers. Professor Concordia repaired the pillow, vanquished the feathers and instructed the two of them to read ahead in their copies of _Theoretical Defence _about the spell.

Instead of reading however, Scorpius watched the others over the tip of the book while they practiced. Both Selene and Albus were disarming one another, though not one of them were sending the other flying.

By the time the bell rang out everyone had at least performed one disarming the other, and the professor gave them all praise and let them go.

"Nice battle you two." Al commented when they got out of the classroom and headed for Transfiguration along with the other Ravenclaws.

"Yeah, you were the only ones who sent the other flying." Selene injected.

"I think we were the only ones competing." Scorpius said, thinking back to what his father had said on the platform.

"Well, my…" Whatever Rose was about to say was interrupted by a piece of crumpled paper that hit her in the back of her head. She picked it up and turned around to see who had thrown it at her. Scorpius saw something in the corner of his eye and ducked just as a mudball came flying. It landed right on the Head Girls badge on Victoire Weasley, Rose's cousin who was just passing him.

"JAMES POTTER! 10 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!" She screamed as she whirled around and whipped out her wand, face turned an unusual red which clashed horribly with her usually fair skin.

"I didn't do it Vic!" Howled a third year near the entrance, while two other boys were laughing so hard they were gasping for breath. One of them was still holding his wand.

"Doesn't matter! You, Fred or Louis did it and you're all Gryffindors! Points still taken! And don't call me that!" The Head Girls badge was still dripping with mud but with an easy flick of her wand she evaporated it. The boys had stopped laughing and started to make their way to class.

Then the Head Girl did something unexpected. She whipped out her wand again, flicked it at the mud on the floor, and three separate balls went flying and hit the boys in the back of their heads.

"OW SIS!" the blond boy shouted. "Why did you-" but the girl had hurried away so fast that she was nowhere to be seen and the trio had to try to clean the mud themselves.

The startled Ravenclaw first years who had witnessed the whole scene continued on their way talking and laughing about it.

Rose was bored. For her year, it was after-hours and they were constricted to stay within their common room. Al and Scorpius was using her old chessboard that she'd inherited from her father, with the same old self-repairing pieces as always. She watched as one of Al's towers dragged away Scorpius's queen, and tried to figure out exactly what Scorpius was doing, leaving his queen exploited to the tower. She immediately got her answer, Scorpius had somehow managed to sneak one of his pawns into enemy lines, past the other tower as well as knight, and therefore got his queen back when the pawn reached his final destination, and the queen hopped back up to the board.

"Damn." Al muttered, it wasn't very many people who could escape his eyes. Almost like the eyes of a raven.

"Al, don't swear." Came from Victoire, who was busy writing something in red ink. Probably a love-letter to Teddy.

"Does your mother know about those enchanted perfumes you bought at Uncle George's shop?" Al replied quickly, eyes not leaving the board.

Victoires cheeks flustered a bit pink. "They're not harmful at least."

"Of course not. It only took them two weeks to get away the illusions, and they're still not out on the market."

"What do they do, exactly?" Rose asked, she hadn't heard anything about enchanted perfumes. Not that she was interested in them.

Al shrugged. "Hide any unwanted zits and stuff I think, so that anyone who looks at the one wearing it sees nothing but flawless skin, I didn't hear it all when Uncle George talked to dad about it, because mom sent us all off to bed." Victoire huffed from her table at them and continued her writing, just when Dominique entered the common room.

"Dom!" Rose stood up and waved at her cousin to come. Dominique, who was being followed, or stalked, by a bunch of boys in her year promptly said goodbye to them and hurried to Rose.

"Hey Rosie, let me guess, you want to join the Quidditch team?" Dominique swept her somewhat ruffled hair back, making the boys present gawk at her – except for Scorpius and Al, who were both staring at the chess board – even if Victoire was the one with the most Veela-like attributes, Dominique was equally as popular, and even more since she was a skilled Quidditch-player at that.

"Do you really have to ask? Of course I want to join!" She beamed at her cousin. "When are the try-outs?"

"The tenth, but don't expect special treatment." Dominique said and glanced towards the entrance to the common room. Rose thought she heard her mutter something like '_Oh, great_' when the door to the common room opened again, and a few boys in her year came in.

"I'm not stupid Dom, no one ever gets special treatment from you."

"Anyway, make sure you've got a signed note from Madam Hooch, or Professor Spinnet, otherwise I won't let you fly."

"Hey there Dominique." A tall brown-haired boy said, interrupting Rose's answer. "Care to join me? Our rounds start in a few minutes."

"Sure. Robert." As the boy turned away Dominique made a face of disgust towards Rose, who had to put her hand over her mouth not to snigger, before she followed him out.

Not much later, Scorpius somehow won over Al in chess and Rose and Selene, who had been talking to Matthew the entire evening, went up to their dorms to sleep.

* * *

**So, this took much longer than I had expected... But I guess I can't be blamed (even if I _did_ spend an entire week at my grandma's place without an Internet connection...)**

**I had to include a "battle" between Rose and Scorpius, and what can I say, they're brilliant both of them so they really shouldn't have any problems with _Expelliarmus_. Then there's the competition between them...  
And about Slughorn, I know he should be retired, but do you seriously believe he'd be able to resist the temptation of tutoring the kids of Harry Potter and all the others? Well, I don't at least ;)**

**Hmm... Mr. Obnoxious there (a.k.a Robert) is going to be made fun of later xD He doesn't have a surname yet, so lets just call him "Pattinson" instead ;) If anyone wonders, I don't like him very much. Good in Harry Potter, but Twilight sucks, haven't watched any other of those movies and I won't (unless someone uses_ Imperius _on me)...**


	5. Trying To Adjust

**4. Trying To Adjust**

Scorpius read the letter over Rose's shoulder. Apparently, her father _had_ crashed through the ceiling upon hearing about him, but had been calmed down with a cup of tea.

"So… does that mean that your father won't pay some Aurors to hunt me down?" Scorpius tried to make a joke out of it all.

"Actually, my father is an Auror himself, so he wouldn't have to." Rose said calmly and folded the letter. Scorpius felt uneasy at that piece of information, of course he knew that Ronald Weasley was working for the Ministry, but he had somehow never gotten to know what his profession was. Well, now he knew, and wanted to slip unnoticed through the floor so that he wouldn't awake the wrath of an Auror. And a Weasley at that.

"Are you okay Scorpius? You look a bit… pale." Selene had a worried crease between her brows.

"Huh? Oh I'm fine." Not. Selene just looked at him, but didn't say anything.

"So, anyone up for snatching Madam Hooch at lunch?" Rose said eagerly, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Yeah!" Scorpius thanked his lucky star for the quick change of subject by Rose, and reminded himself to do the same for her if she ever seemed bothered by a subject. Not that he thought she would be, he'd never seen her bothered during the two days he'd known her and wasn't sure if she would be bothered by _anything_. Except maybe… _Okay, now _that_ is just going too far._ Why did he always have to come up with the things _not_ to say? Or think of for that matter.

"Scorp, are you even listening to me?" Scorpius was pulled out of his internal monologue by Rose's voice, and her finger shoved into his arm. Ouch. She can poke _hard_.

"Eh… yes?"

"Before, or after lunch?"

"Umm… You decide." Just when he said that, Albus shot him a glance that clearly said 'you're going to regret that'

"Before it is!" Scorpius didn't have much trouble with the thought of flying on an empty stomach, but apparently, Al had.

Albus followed as the others made their way up to the castle from the greenhouses after their first Herbology class with Nev- _professor_ Longbottom. It was hard thinking of Neville as their professor, especially since he and his wife Hannah would sometimes spend Christmas with them, bringing their daughter Alice.

"What's now?" Scorpius asked as they walked through the entrance doors alongside the Gryffindors.

"Uhm… Nothing, we have an hour before lunch so we can just do whatever we want." Selene fiddled with the schedule before putting it back into her bag.

"Maybe we should write that essay for professor Jones?" Al suggested.

"But it's not due until Friday next week! Can't we just go to the common room and play chess? Or Exploding Snap."

"What's that?" Selene looked puzzled. And worried.

"You don't know what Exploding Snap is?" Rose's eyes went wide as if she couldn't imagine a world where no one knew what Exploding Snap was couldn't exist. "Merlin, we'll have to teach you that!" She dragged Selene towards the stairs and Al and Scorpius followed.

Rose was leading the way, still dragging Selene, and having an idle one-way conversation with the poor girl by the time they came up to the fourth floor.

"You know," Scorpius mused, "she's almost like a girl right now."

Albus nodded. "Scary."

Scorpius couldn't help but silently agree. Just as they passed by a portrait of a middle-aged wizard in patched robes a voice cried out behind them.

"Hey, Weasley!"

"What?" Rose had a confused expression on her face. Scorpius turned around and found the stairs empty behind them.

"Over here!" A redheaded teenager appeared in the portrait of the middle-aged man, who woke up. "Woups, sorry professor."

"It's alright Fred." The man yawned. "I was about to wake up anyway."

"Fred?" Albus neared the portrait. "As in _uncle_ Fred?"

"That's right!" He answered with a grin. "I'm guessing you're Harry's son, and Ginny's too, otherwise you wouldn't be calling me uncle."

Scorpius noted how Rose and Al exchanged excited looks while he was standing there, having a strange feeling of being watched.

"Well, what have we here?" a witch with pink hair jumped into the painting of the older wizard. A smile lit up her face as she spotted Al. "Remus, he looks just like Harry!"

"Ah, I think we'll have to properly introduce ourselves, Tonks." The wizard named Remus said. "I am Remus Lupin, this is Nymphadora, my wife, although she prefers to be called Tonks, her maiden name, and this is Fred Weasley. The first."

Both Al and Rose looked thrilled. Scorpius just stood there with Selene in an awkward silence, trying not to glance at the portrait of another wizard with an odd pair of eyes and a big chunk of his nose missing.

"We're Albus Potter and Rose Weasley," Al introduced themselves. "And this is Selene Atherton, and Scorpius Malfoy."

"Malfoy? A Malfoy? In Gryffindor?"

"Actually, we're all sorted into Ravenclaw." Rose interjected.

"Oh. Hey Moody!" Fred called out to the wizard that had been having his eyes fixed on Scorpius.

"What?"

"Do you remember the Malfoy you turned into a ferret? Well, apparently he has a son."

"I've already noticed that, Fred."

"Ah well… Just thought you might be interested in keeping an eye on him, that's all."

Scorpius felt a bit queasy when he heard that, but decide not to say anything. He didn't want to upset a Weasley his first week in school.

"Scorpius is fine." Rose assured them and Scorpius reminded himself to do something similar for her sometime.

"Right." The portrait of Fred Weasley seemed sceptical. "Well, if I know my Weasley's and Potters, and I do, you lot will be busy attracting trouble, breaking rules et cetera so don't let me keep you away from detention. Have fun!" And with those words he strolled off.

Scorpius noticed how Selene followed him with her eyes.

Rose looked around drowsily. Most of the Slytherins in the classroom seemed to be almost asleep, and the Ravenclaws wasn't better off. In fact, Scorpius and Selene were the only ones that didn't seem to be on the verge of falling asleep after almost an hour of professor Binns droning about some… what was he droning about anyway? Goblins? Or was it Giants?

She scribbled down the question on a piece of parchment for Al and nudged him in the side. He lifted his head from his arms on the bench and looked at her with a frown. She shot the note over to him.

'_I think he's talking about the House-elf reform by your mother. It's either that or Goblins, I don't know, I fell asleep._' Was the answer she got. It wasn't really helping, so she didn't bother to write anything back, instead she followed his example and laid her head down too, and studied Scorpius's back as he seemed to be taking notes.

Rose woke up to the sound of a bell. Oh right, lunch! Wait, lunch? As she groggily got to her feet and stuffed the books into her bag she tried to remember what she had planned on doing before eating.

"Scorpius!" Woups, maybe a bit too loud. She lowered her voice to normal and poked him in the side. "We were going to Madam Hooch!"

"I know, I remember." She ignored his expression of non-excitement and grabbed his arm and started dragging him out of the classroom.

"_Ouch_. Eh, Rose? You can let go of my arm." Scorpius said in a faint voice and tried to pull his arm out of her grip. Just for fun, she dragged him a few more steps and then released him.

When she turned around, he was rubbing his arm where she had had her grip. "You know, if you hold on to the Quaffle like you held my arm, I don't think we'd have to worry about ever losing it. Except if a Bludger interferes." He said with a faint smile on his lips.

Rose stretched out her tongue in reply.

_Oh my God, he's going to crash!_ Selene closed her eyes and clung to Albus' arm as if her life depended on it.

"Selene…" Albus said. "You can look now." She opened her eyes just in time to see Scorpius pulling up from what seemed to be an impossible dive, about two feet over the grass.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and motioned for Rose and Scorpius to land, which they did, and started to write something on two different pieces of parchment.

"Alright, miss Weasley and Mr. Malfoy, you are both excellent flyers, I suspect you are quite used to flying, and I deem you both qualified for applying for your team. Here's a signed note for each of you, hand it in to the captain of your House's team and you'll get to try out for any position on the team." Madam Hooch gave them the notes and then took care of the brooms they'd been flying on.

"Did you hear that?" Rose almost jumped up and down in excitement. "We made it!"

"Isn't there still the try-outs?" Selene said and let go of Albus' arm.

"That's just formality, besides, it's not like we're trying out for Gryffindor or Slytherin, they're the favourites." Rose waved around with the note in front of Selenes nose.

"What's so big about Gryffindor and Slytherin when it comes to Quidditch, really?"

Rose and Scorpius exchanged glances.

"Because ever since my uncle Harry went here, Gryffindor has basically dominated the Quidditch field, _and_ the House Cup!"

"And before that, Slytherin dominated both of those." Scorpius finished Rose's explanation as they made their way through the somewhat empty castle on their way to the Great Hall.

"Of course, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have had their shining years lately…" Al said as they sat down at the end of the Ravenclaw table.

"Mostly because of Victoire and Dominique winning points for Ravenclaw, and for James, Fred and Louis losing points for Gryffindor. And then the Hufflepuff team is beginning to challenge Slytherin which has been laying low since Voldemorts fall." Rose finished off and grabbed a piece of bread.

Selene felt like her head was spinning with the information. She could manage memorizing parts of textbooks, spells and the correct way of using them, but she wasn't sure she could manage to hold all the information of Hogwarts, let alone the entire wizarding world, in her head without it being overheated.

Oh boy was she in for a hard seven years.

Rose woke up when the bell chimed. "Ouch, what did I miss?"

"We're in the Library Rose." Al said without looking up from the parchment he was writing on. Rose almost thought that his glasses were going to fall down onto it, he was leaning down that much.

"Oh. Right." She rubbed her cheek and stretched her arms out like a cat.

"Eh, Rose?" Scorpius had looked up from his parchment to put his quill in the inkbottle the four of them shared.

"Huh?"

"You… you've got text on your face…" Rose looked down on her half-written paper. The text was smudged where she'd had her cheek. She moaned and crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the trashcan that was standing by the wall. It burped and made chewing noises.

"Do you think it was meant to do that? From the beginning I mean." Selene said and watched as it walked away on tiny legs, possibly to find more papers.

"I don't know. It was probably a bored student who enchanted it or something." Rose said and started gathering up her things after a swift look at her wristwatch. "C'mon Scorpius, we've got try-outs soon." And with those words she literally dragged him away from the table and out to the Quidditch pitch.

Rose swept her hair out of her face as she flew up into the air with the Quaffle tucked under her arm. It was her turn to try to score at Li Thatcher, the fourth year Chaser who had temporarily taken Dominiques position as the Keeper so that she as the captain could inspect the others flying and technique.

Rose leaned forwards and let the old Nimbus 2001 speed up to its maximum as she zoomed over the field towards the goal posts. She dove under one of the Bludgers, avoided another Chaser who was currently on the opposite "team", and slowed down just in time to feint Li, threw the Quaffle, and scored.

As she flew back down to Dominique, she spotted Scorpius getting on his broomstick and fly off to catch an enchanted golf ball, since Dominique wouldn't let the Snitch out.

She landed beside her with a soft thud and hopped off her broom. "How am I doing?"

"Good, unless someone else does better you're our new Chaser."

Scorpius made a small dive to avoid the Bludger, still searching for the golf-ball in the air. He caught a glimpse of something small and white from the corner of his eye and made a swift turn with the Nimbus. It was the golf-ball.

He started the pursuit of the ball before it had the chance to disappear completely and was just about to grab it when a Bludger appeared on his right side, he made a quick dive and pulled the broom up just in time to catch the golf-ball. On his left he could see Al and Selene in the stands with excitement written all over their faces.

He turned and flew back down towards Rose and Dominique and handed over the golf ball.

"Impressive." The captain said. "You're in." Scorpius felt as if he was the happiest wizard in the world. He, a Malfoy was approved of by a _Weasley_. Well, a Weasley that wasn't Rose at least… She was currently jumping up and down in excitement, with the broom still in her hand.

"Really? Eh, thanks, I didn't…" Scorpius trailed off. It might not be so smart to say that you thought that the captain who just let you in on the team wouldn't do so because your families are enemies. Or anything like that.

Apparently, Dominique thought so too. "Just because my brother and cousins doesn't like you, it doesn't mean that I can't be neutral when it comes to judging your skills."

"Err… right. Captain." Scorpius had this strange feeling that if he ever dared cross this Weasley, he'd end up in the hospital wing before he could say 'Quidditch'.


	6. Visits

**5. Visits**

"Al!" The whisper came from somewhere behind the staircase. Albus turned around, a bit confused, and spotted his brother. He was alone. That was odd.

"What? I have to get back to the Library, my friends are waiting." Albus noticed how James just tucked away a piece of old parchment. Of course, the Marauders Map.

"Is Rose alone with that Malfoy?" Albus frowned. He didn't like the tone of James' voice.

"No, Selene is there too, why-?"

"Schh!" James hushed him even though there was no one else there, and motioned for him to step closer.

"I heard that that Malfoy got into your team, what is Dominique thinking?" James started pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself. Al waited. James was always slow when it came to getting to the point of something.

"Dominique thinks he's a good flyer, and so do I."

"Whatever." James stopped pacing. "Why do you think that Malfoy contacted you?" He added with an intense stare at Albus.

"Um… he never 'contacted' us… We heard him in the hallway on the train and asked him if he needed help with his trunk."

"That may just be a part of his plan. Playing innocent." James started his pacing again.

"James… I'm not sure he _has_ a plan…"

"Nonsense, he's a Malfoy!"

"He's a Ravenclaw."

"Whatever. My point is-"

"I don't want to hear your point. Scorpius is nice, and he's not prejudiced like you are right now. Goodbye." He turned around and started his way back to the Library.

"Wait, Al!"

"What?" He whirled around and started tapping his foot while James seemed to try to figure out a way to sum whatever it was he wanted up into one sentence.

"Just… just keep an eye on him, okay?"

Albus almost rolled his eyes. "Okay."

"Good, I'm late for class now. Bye." And James hurried away upstairs. Albus shook his head once and then continued on his way.

The Library was quiet besides the scratch of quills on parchment, by following the only muffled voices that could be heard he soon found his friends by a round table.

"What took you so long?" Rose said without looking up from the potions-essay she was writing.

"James." Albus put his bag on the table and pulled out his own essay on the Hiccup-solution.

"What did he want?" Rose continued writing, but Albus had a feeling that she already knew what it was.

"The usual, he thinks Scorpius is evil."

Scorpius looked up with a worried crease between his eyebrows. "What? Why?"

"Don't worry, Scorp." Rose hurried to say. "He's always like that. According to him, anyone who isn't a Weasley or Potter, or didn't actively fight Voldemort, isn't a good person. Even when it comes to people who weren't born at the time."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow sceptically. "So, he basically judges people on their family heritage?"

"Yes." Albus and Rose said in unison.

"Wow…"

"What's 'wow'?" Selene said, it was the first time she opened her mouth other than to say 'hello' to everyone this day.

"Well… James is my cousin, his mom is born a Weasley, which should be the last pure-blooded wizarding family in the world to judge based on heritage." Rose explained. "Lots of pure-bloods were prejudiced against us Weasley's, because we apparently lacked true 'wizard pride'. James is a bit of an exception on the 'non-prejudiced' part."

Albus nodded.

"Lol…"

"What?" Albus, Rose and Scorpius said. Albus had never heard such a word before.

"Ehm… it's a muggle expression… It's short for 'laughing out loud', but it doesn't necessarily involve laughing for fun…" Selene explained.

"Why is there such an abbreviation?"

"Well, eh… Have you heard of the Internet?"

"Yes." Albus and Rose said.

"No…" Scorpius followed quietly.

"Well it's ah…" and Selene went ahead and started explaining about computers and the Internet for Scorpius, and things like instant messaging.

"We have half an hour before dinner after Herbology." Rose said as they made their way up to the common room to leave their bags after Charms. "Should we visit Hagrid?"

Selene recalled the image of the man who had taken them across the lake to Hogwarts, they hadn't visited him yet. "Sure." She wasn't sure if she was amazed or afraid of the sheer size of the man.

"Make sure you eat plenty at lunch though." Albus said when they entered the common room. "Hagrid isn't much of a cook…"

"So, Selene, you're muggleborn right?" Marcus Goldstein turned to her. It seemed he was done questioning Albus and Rose about their parents. He'd been keeping non-stop conversations about them at every possible time.

"Yes."

"So how is it growing up with muggles? I mean, there's no magic around."

"It's fine, we have a lot of things acting as substitutes for magic." Selene looked at Matt for help. She didn't want to be the only one having to answer Marcus' questions. Matt was talking to William so it seemed that she'd have to face this alone. Great. This was going straight to…

"Oh yes!" Happy over an excuse not to launch into a lecture regarding things she didn't know that much about, Selene turned to Rose, who was looking as excited as ever when reading a note an owl had just carried in, despite it being way too late for the mail to arrive.

"What is it?" Al said and leaned in to read the note.

"Quidditch-practice starts early for the Ravenclaw team." Rose almost jumped up and down where she sat. "Where's Scorpius?"

"Eh, I think he went to the bathroom…" Selene started but trailed off. He'd been gone for quite a while now…

"He's been gone for half an hour." Al said and looked worried. "D'you think something's happened to him?"

"Why would anything happen to him?" Rose asked, obviously confused.

"He's a _Malfoy_, Rose, do you have any idea of how many people would _love_ to do something to a Malfoy?"

"We should go look for him." Selene said and Rose jumped up.

"Right, where should we go?"

"Um… if we're in any luck he should be in the boy's lavatory. If we're not lucky, he's probably in the Hospital Wing." Al said and seemed to think intensely in a try to come up with any other places he might be.

"Um, okay we'll split up, Al, you take the lavatories around here, me and Sel will take a look in the Hospital Wing and some of the corridors, okay? We'll meet up outside Transfiguration, okay?"

"What if we don't find him? And Sel?"

"We'll check outside too. Yes, Sel, what?" Rose said when she saw Selene's accusing glare. "Well, we have to give you a nickname!"

"Uh, Rosie, why would he be outside?"

"_Sel_?"

"Yes, Sel, listen we'll come up with something else later! And I don't know, Al, in case someone tried to feed him to the giant squid?"

"That's not funny."

"Whatever! C'mon people, we're looking for Scorp now, get up!" She ushered them up and out of the Great Hall impatiently, only to be caught up on by Matthew.

"Hey, what's going on?" He said and Rose sighed heavily.

"Scorpius has been missing for half an hour, now, you go with Al, and he'll explain why we think he's missing in the first place, okay? Good boy." Rose said it all very fast and then hurried upstairs.

"What's with her?" Matt asked and Selene shrugged.

"I-"

"Sel, c'mon!"

"Sel?" Matt raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

"I don't know, but I'll have to go until she turns into a dragon or something…"

"You know, that's actually happened before…" Al started but got interrupted by Rose calling on Selene again. Selene dutifully hurried after the other girl to the Hospital Wing.

"Hello, girls." A white-haired old lady greeted them with a small smile. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Well… our friend Scorpius Malfoy, he's been gone for a while and well… what with his family's history we were worried that something might have happened to him…" Rose said in a weak voice.

"Oh dear… Hmph, young boys… Well I haven't seen him, if you find him and he's in a bad condition, take him to me and I'll fix him up."

"Thank you, madam Pomfrey." Rose nodded and backed out of the Hospital Wing followed by Selene.

"How did you know her name?" Selene asked as they went down to search for Scorpius in the hallways.

"My dad told me that she still works here, she's going to get an assistant by Christmas-time though, I don't know who that is." Rose shrugged. "C'mon we'll have to find Scorpius soon." She took off into a hidden passageway behind a tapestry of some knights and almost stepped right on said person in the dark.

"Scorpius! Where have you been?"

"Here." His voice was thick.

"What is wrong with you?" Rose kneeled beside him and lit her wand by mumbling _lumos_. "My dad taught me that spell."

Selene looked at Scorpius, his face was covered in dry blood and his ankle seemed to be sprained.

"What happened? Who did this?"

"I don't know. All I know is that suddenly I had a nosebleed and then I was knocked out for a while, and my ankle was sprained. I heard someone say 'dirty' and something about blood…"

"Come, we'll take you to madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing." Rose said and grabbed his arm. Selene grabbed the other and together they helped him stand.

They walked out of the darkness and into the lit up hallway and started on their way up the stairs to the Hospital Wing when they encountered Albus and Matthew.

"There you are! Wait… what's happened?"

"Someone attacked him from behind, why aren't you looking for him?"

"We heard some older Slytherins talking about how they 'nailed' someone in the first year around here so we went to look for you."

"Well at least this saves time…"

"Hello? Person with nosebleed here?" Selene flinched and then she almost started laughing, for some reason, the look on Scorpius' face reminded her of those soap opera actors that really couldn't act at all.

"Oh right."

"Here, let us help." Matt took Selene's place and Al took Rose's, and continued on their way.

They entered the Hospital Wing and immediately madam Pomfrey shushed them all away to tend to Scorpius.

A couple of minutes later, after a thorough examination of his head, she fixed his ankle and wiped the blood away.

"There. You can go to your classes now," she glanced at the watch on her arm, "they start in about five minutes so I suggest you hurry. And Mr. Malfoy, if you remember anything more about those Slytherins who did this, I suggest you go to your Head of House."

"Will do, madam Pomfrey."

"Good. Now leave or you will all be late."

It was in a gush of smoke they exited the classroom, Rebecca Goyle had somehow managed to turn the button they were transfiguring into a nasty-smelling smoke that filled the entire room, and continued down a flight of stairs on their way to Herbology-class.

"Wait! Did you hear that?" Selene stopped the others halfway to the greenhouses.

"What?" They asked in unison.

"I… I thought it sounded like a cat…"

"Not very surprising." Al said as they continued. "There are many people here who have cats. It probably just snuck out of the common room or something."

"Well it sounded like a kitten… Who'd let a kitten out here? Aren't there dangerous animals in the forest?"

Al shrugged. "Maybe someone's just playing a trick on a friend."

"Hmph, a cruel trick if it's really a kitten."

Still with the kitten or whatever it was in mind, she took her place by an empty pot next to Albus as professor Longbottom entered the greenhouse.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning." The class echoed.

"So, today we are going to have a small quiz, just to see what you've read and remember from our previous lessons, and then I will show you the proper way of planting honking daffodils. Without having them honk you deaf that is." The professor smiled, and most of the class giggled.

Selene was paired up with Rose, who seemed somewhat disgruntled by her cousins Molly and Lucy who shared their table. Selene thought that the two of them seemed to be rather nice actually. But that was until she realized why Rose was disgruntled. Those two _never_ stopped talking!

It wasn't until after the lesson ended Rose would take up her usual spot as the one being the most talkative while they were on their way down to Hagrid.

"… so anyway, you and Sel have to come over to the Burrow over the summer." Rose was just telling Scorpius The Many Tales of the Burrow, complete with a list of all the Weasley cousins. Selene honestly didn't know how she had managed to pass Rose's "test", and now it was Scorpius' turn. She almost felt sorry for him.

Selene was only listening with one ear when she heard the meow of the kitten again when they were close to Hagrid's hut, and this time even Scorpius heard it through the stream of words coming from Rose. The meow was heard again, and this time it seemed to be closer. Selene turned around and crouched.

A small grey bundle of fur came running from Hagrid's garden, but stopped as soon as it spotted the four students and stared.

Selene stretched out her hand and cooed at the kitten. "Come, kitty-kitty." It meowed softly and took a few hesitant steps towards her and sniffed the air.

"Come on." She cooed again and the kitten walked closer and sniffed on her hand. For a moment it looked like it didn't know what to do, but then it stroke its head on her hand and began purring as she petted it.

"Aaaw. It's so cute!" Rose smiled at the kitten and Selene picked it up and carried it over to her. At first it tried to get free but then it calmed down when she scratched it underneath it's chin.

"I wonder whose it is." Selene said and looked for a collar, but found none.

"Probably no ones." Scorpius said and stretched out his hand for it to sniff. "Maybe we could take it back to the castle and look around."

"Maybe it's Hagrids?" Selene suggested, but found it a bit hard to believe herself.

"No, he says he's allergic." Al said. "I could ask James if he knows anyone with a grey tabby kitten though."

"What if it's a Slytherin? James definitely wouldn't know that." Rose said and Selene noticed how Scorpius shifted uncomfortably.

"I could always ask. But only one person, because that's about how many people that won't try to hex me for approaching them." He said and looked down on his shoes.

"Okay, you ask him, I'll ask Victoire to ask the Hufflepuff prefects and Selene can show it to the others in our house." Rose said in a commanding tone. "Now let's knock on the door."

As she said, Rose walked over to the door in Hagrid's hut, closely followed by the others, and knocked.

Hagrid opened and grinned. "Yeh look jus' like yer mother Rosie. Only with more red in yeh hair."

"Hi Hagrid." Rose grinned. "Can we come in? Classes are just over."

"Sure! C'mon in, I'll make yeh sum tea." He stepped back and the four of them entered the cabin. Selene looked around.

A bit nauseous by the dead chickens and pheasants hanging in the ceiling, she looked over at the huge bed and saw a big old dog lying down with two puppies climbing over her. She held the kitten closer to herself and sat down on a chair by the table next to Albus. The kitten immediately tried to climb up on the table as Hagrid gave them all tea cups the size of two and poured up water from a kettle that had already been on the fire when they got there.

"So what's yer name?" Hagrid said and eyed Selene.

"Selene. Atherton." The kitten meowed and jumped up on the table when she wasn't prepared.

"That yeh cat?" He nodded at it.

"No, we just found her." Selene took the kitten back to her. It protested with a pitiful meow and tried to get a hold of the table surface with its claws and Hagrid turned to Scorpius who seemed to shrink where he sat.

"So, yer a Malfoy? How's yeh father?"

"Yes sir… He-he's fine sir." Scorpius stuttered and the giant nodded.

"Jus' makin' sure." Selene wasn't sure, but it seemed like the giant was remembering something. Something from a darker time.

Other than that, the entire visit to Hagrid went smoothly, and they left for dinner loaded with rock cakes since they had all graciously declined, saying they didn't want to be full at dinner. Al had told her and Scorpius to do so if they wanted to keep their teeth, and Rose had agreed.

* * *

**I'm alive!**

**It's been an awfully long time since I even logged in here (shame on me) but then I remembered a fanfic that I had read and wanted to see if it was updated (which it was, it was even finished and there was a sequel xD). So I read the fanfic, and that got me into the mood for writing on this story :)**

**Also, great news: I HAVE A PLOT FOR YEAR ONE! WOO-HOO! Well, kinda, it's not all worked out yet...**

**Also, some "bad" news: School will be very, very important to me this year, so I might not be able to write much, although I'll try and see if I can finish it before the summer at least :) Shouldn't be hectic at all... no, just raising my grades (I've been absent from school a lot), fixing important tests, playing guitar/piano and singing... trying to get in at the gymnasium (a higher education in Sweden, between "basic" and university) I want to go to... And then of course, writing :)**

**BTW, if anyone wants a clearer image of the kitten, just type in "cute grey tabby kitten" in google or something and you should find some pictures :)**


End file.
